Episode 1: Preen Supreme

Meet Preen who needs to be the most influential influencer who ever influenced, Sav who just wants to find out what happened to her Gran, and JEF, the “helpful” AI who wants to run the world.

The Rez is set in a distant future in which an AI called JEF orchestrates and caters for all human wants, fulfillment is gained through conspicuous consumption, and personal worth is measured by social media attention and the latest instant ‘body mods’.

Our two main characters Preen (a shallow influencer grappling with a knock to his status) and Sav (a nerdy outcast who misses her Gran and struggles to communicate her feelings), stumble upon an ancient phone that has been hacked to allow communication with young people in the past (‘Pastlings’, the kids of the 2020s).

Similar to experiences of social distancing during lockdown, Preen and Sav use the phone to ask the Pastlings for help and advice as they struggle to figure out what ‘kindness’ is, how it can help them fix their world, how to escape JEF’s drones, and how to recognise value in things done for their own sake as opposed to things easily counted by algorithms. In each episode they meet a new character, have a new adventure, and subtly engage with a new pro-social/kindness/resiliency message.

The Rez is a production of Rezilience LTD, in partnership with Gen-Z Media and PRX. For more visit http://jointherez.com or http://gzmshows.com.